They Say Blue Review

Caldecott and Printz Honor-winning illustrator Jillian Tamaki brings us a poetic exploration of colour and nature from a young child’s point of view. They Say Blue follows a young girl as she contemplates colours in the known and the unknown, in the immediate world and the world beyond what she can see. The sea looks blue, yet water cupped in her hands is as clear as glass. Is a blue whale blue? She doesn’t know — she hasn’t seen one.

Stunningly beautiful illustrations flow from one spread to the next, as time passes and the imagination takes hold. The world is full of colour, and mystery too, in this first picture book from a highly acclaimed artist.

Some Testimonial About This Book:

M. Lauritano

In a deliberate shift towards a child friendly art style, Jillian Tamaki has made a book filled with sensuous illustrations structured by a progression of colors. Unfortunately, the text doesn’t liv...

Christopher

Here’s your first 2019 Caldecott contender....

emma

Oh, this is so beautiful. Yes, as reviewed, the narrative is less a narrative and more contemplative, but the sounds of the words combined with the art is actually breathtaking. It's full of movement,...

Dani

I LOVE this one more than words can say. To so fully capture the magic of both colours and childhood? Jillian, you're amazing....

Destinee Sutton

The art is five stars. Gorgeous. On the first few reads, though, the story left me like huh? I thought it was a story about colors, about seasons, which is what I expected. But then it was about a gir...

I just read this book to a class of kindergarten kids and it was a true winner. First of all the art is gorgeous - so cool to see the range that Tamaki has after enjoying some of her older works like ...

Allison

Am I missing something?? The art is beautiful. The beginning was wonderful, but the text and story (if you can call it that) are terrible! I thought it was unfocused, disjointed and too long. The begi...

Boni

A gorgeous book. Wow. But it was a little too broad- a lack of focus (colors, seasons, feelings, the character becoming a tree for four spreads, existential questions...so much here!) and a jumpy narr...